Company pleads guilty to health and safety breaches following rail bridge worker’s death

David Rodger, 44, died working on the Tay Rail Bridge on the day his employer – then named Thyssenkripp Palmers Ltd – was awarded a health and safety accolade for its work.

Mr Rodger was stripping and repainting the support piers of the bridge in January 2010 when he fell unconscious because of exposure to the fumes.

Dundee Sheriff Court heard bosses did not treat the area he was working in as a “confined space” under the health and safety rules, which meant there was no ventilation machinery or appropriate clothing or equipment to protect him from the fumes.

He was only wearing a paper dust mask when he died.

Nor were oxygen levels in the area monitored and there was no rescue protocol in place in the event of an accident.

The company, now Xervon Palmers Ltd, admitted the breaches that resulted in the bridge worker’s death.

A post-mortem examination revealed toluene toxicity as the cause of Mr Rodger’s death according to fiscal depute Gavin Callahan. Inhalation of the substance can result in serious neurological damage.

He said: “While it may never be known for certain why he was only wearing a dust mask, it is most likely that he had been wearing this under his air fed blast helmet, but removed the helmet when he used an air line to blow down dust.

“If he had done this, the dust mask that would be worn beneath the blast helmet would have been his only protection.

“It is conceivable that in this inadequately protected state he may have been affected by the toluene vapours sinking to the bottom of the pier leg where he waited for his colleagues to finish priming areas above him.”